McDonald's® Launches 100-Days-Out Countdown to 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games

Offers "Sneak Peek" of On-The-Ground Plans

PRNewswire
OAK BROOK, Ill.
Nov 3, 2005

Exactly 100 days from today, the world's attention will be on Torino, Italy, for the start of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. As a TOP Sponsor and Official Restaurant of the Games, McDonald's is beginning the countdown with a look at the company's 2006 Olympic Games plans:

   --Feeding the World's Athletes - two official Olympic venue McDonald's
      restaurants located in the Torino Olympic Village and Main Press
      Center; will also feature McCafe® for the first time ever
   --Nutrition Information Roll Out - worldwide debut of McDonald's
      nutrition information initiative, including packaging and in-store
      materials
   --Balanced, Active Lifestyles - McDonald's ongoing commitment to the
      importance of energy balance through "it's what i eat and what i
      do™ ... i'm lovin' it®" on-site activities featuring members of
      global team of Olympic athletes, hopefuls and moms
   --New Global McDonald's Olympic-Themed Television Commercials - new
      global creative to feature Ronald McDonald® vignettes and a spot
      celebrating Olympic dreams
   --McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew - more than 300 of McDonald's top-
      performing restaurant employees from 24 countries will serve the
      world's best athletes their favorite McDonald's food
   --Olympic-Inspired, Italian Style "Look of the Games" - unique, energetic
      designs incorporated into McDonald's official restaurant sites,
      Olympic Champion Crew uniforms and marketing worldwide

"Our McDonald's restaurant teams have always shared many of the same ideals as the Olympic teams: excellence, teamwork and being your best," said Jim Skinner, McDonald's Chief Executive Officer. "For more than 30 years, we have been a Proud Sponsor of the Olympic Movement, a partnership that directly aligns with our ongoing commitment to help people live more balanced, active lives."

McDonald's became an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1976 and has a long-standing commitment to the Olympic Movement. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald's airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for McDonald's food. Since then, the company has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, coaches, their families and fans.

The Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games mark McDonald's fifth Olympic Games as a TOP Sponsor and sixth as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games. McDonald's sponsorship will continue through the 2012 Games in London.

McDonald's Feeds the World's Best Athletes

As the Official Restaurant for the sixth consecutive Games, McDonald's will feed the more than 15,000 athletes, coaches, officials and media attending. The two full-service McDonald's Olympic venue restaurants being built are located in the Torino Olympic Village - Villaggio Olimpico - and the Main Press Center at Lingotto. Both restaurants will open at the end of January, prior to the start of the Games. Spectators from around the world will be able to visit the 13 additional McDonald's restaurants throughout Torino to enjoy their favorite menu items, from the Big Mac® sandwich and World Famous Fries®, to McDonald's Salads Plus™ line and popular breakfast items, including the Egg McMuffin® sandwich.

For the first time ever at the Olympic Games, McDonald's will present McCafe, featuring premium espresso-based coffees, made-to-order specialty drinks and a variety of cookies and snacks. There are currently over 500 McCafe sites in McDonald's restaurants throughout 29 countries worldwide.

Nutrition Information Roll Out

On October 25, 2005, McDonald's announced an innovative approach to further communicate nutrition information to customers around the world. The Torino Games will mark the debut of McDonald's nutrition information initiative, showcasing Italy as the first McDonald's market to implement the program. This initiative includes an easy-to-understand icon and bar chart format that will appear on packaging, as well as on communications materials in-store and online.

Balanced, Active Lifestyles

As part of McDonald's ongoing commitment to help people live more balanced, active lives, members of McDonald's global team of Olympic athletes, hopefuls and moms will help bring "it's what i eat and what i do" to life through various on-site activities.

New McDonald's Olympic Television Commercials

New global McDonald's Olympic-themed commercials continue McDonald's proud tradition of bringing the unique emotion and spirit of the Games to life for customers worldwide. Ronald McDonald®, the company's balanced, active lifestyle ambassador and Chief Happiness Officer™, is featured in some fun vignettes showing off his athletic abilities. There will also be another spot that celebrates Olympic dreams. The new commercials will debut in early January 2006. In addition, some of McDonald's countries around the world will offer special restaurant promotions as well as Olympic-themed advertising and packaging to celebrate the Games.

McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew

While the world's top athletes will compete for Olympic Gold, McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew have already achieved their gold by being selected to proudly serve the athletes, media and fans their favorite McDonald's foods in Torino. More than 300 of McDonald's "best of the best" crew were chosen from among McDonald's 1.6 million employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. Criteria for selection was determined by each country, and included excellence in teamwork, speed of service, order accuracy and customer service. A special celebratory event to recognize the crew's achievements will take place on February 9 in Torino just before the start of the Games where crew will receive the first medals of the Games.

Olympic Champion Crew Blog

A new component for this year's team will be the McDonald's Olympic Champion Crew blog, a special online web log diary where visitors will have the chance to learn about some of the crew members' journeys to the Games, their adventures in Torino and their overall Olympic experience. The site will launch in early February.

Olympic-Inspired, Italian Style "Look of the Games"

McDonald's has created its own unique "look of the Games" that will be seen throughout Torino in surprising, fun ways. Developed by Leo Burnett Italy, the new vibrant and contemporary designs reflect the energy of the Olympic Spirit and the athletes competing. The designs will be seen at McDonald's two official Olympic restaurants, on special outdoor elements in Torino, marketing worldwide, and will be reflected in the Olympic Champion Crew uniforms.

About McDonald's

McDonald's is the leading foodservice retailer with more than 30,000 local restaurants serving quality food to nearly 50 million customers in more than 100 countries each day. Approximately 70 percent of McDonald's restaurants worldwide are owned and operated by independent, local businessmen and women.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990916/MCDLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

SOURCE: McDonald's Corporation

CONTACT: Suzanne Valliere of McDonald's Corporation, +1-630-623-7555, or
email suzanne.valliere@mcd.com; or Katie Scrivano of Burson-Marsteller,
+1-312-596-3646, or email katie_scrivano@chi.bm.com

Web site: http://www.mcdepk.com/olympicresourcecenter/index.html